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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Vegan Thanksgiving

No birds will be eaten in our house this Thanksgiving. This will be my first Thanksgiving without a turkey. I chose to honor Wesley and Lazarus and their strong conviction to a vegan lifestyle, so I am preparing a vegan meal for Thursday. Gerry is a little sad,but he never eats meat anyway, so he will survive it. I practiced a few things this past week, one being these vegan biscuits. No real butter, but Earth Balance, no dairy, almond milk instead and a splash of lemon juice, that made all the difference. They were light and fluffy and very flavorful! I also found a vegan pumpkin cheesecake recipe that sounds amazing. The trick is flavor, so I'm looking for recipes with lots of good flavors and not so much odd texture. We are going to have acorn squash stuffed with apples and raisins and walnuts and cinnamon, mashed potatoes with olive oil instead of butter, mushroom gravy instead of poultry broth, lots of fruits and grains and organic veggies. I think it will be great. I only eat turkey one day out of 365, so how bad can it really be to do a vegetarian Thanskgiving. And to be honest, I won't miss the thawing and basting and praying the thing gets done.

I have a rather sad tale to share with you. My intention in sharing this is to just send out a little reminder about how precious our lives are and how tenuous our time here really is. During this week when we focus on giving thanks, let's stop and think about how we care for ourselves and our families and remember to be thankful for those special people in our lives.

Last night we got a call from Gerry's sister. His aunt Debbie died. She was at a celebration for her daughter Jennifer's birthday and just as they came to the table to eat, she stopped breathing. Her heart stopped. And quick as a wink, she is gone. I was just thinking of her last week, I should send her a card, we should go visit. She has been in poor health, although she was barely 60 years old. She did not eat well, did not take care of herself, she gained so much weight, got diabetes, ended up on dialysis, and then her poor heart just couldn't struggle any longer, it gave up. And now she is gone. Today is Jennifer's birthday and she is planning her mothers funeral. Her new baby boy will not know his grandmother. So, the day before Thanksgiving, before I prepare and share a meal with family and friends, I will be going to a funeral for a very special woman than died much too soon.

This country is out of control with poor eating habits and masking problems with pharmaceutical drugs that are pushed on us from every direction. Eat well, be mindful of the food that nourishes your body. Do it for those you love so you will be around to share all those precious moments that are gone too soon anyway. And most of all, have a very happy and memorable Thanksgiving!

9 comments:

We have a lot of bloggy friends in common, although this is my fist visit to your blog, nice to meet you! I have been veg since I was 16, over 30 years ago, and delight in horrifying my non-veg friends with the bohemian NON-traditional holiday meals. This year: stuffed shells! With vegan and gluten-free pumpkin pie. As far as the poor woman who died just like that, how terrible. So young, and very sad, and as you say, be grateful for what we have NOW.

Hi Gary, thanks for your comment! I have a hard time digesting meat and my family can't process dairy, so it seems our bodies know what is best for us and reject the bad. Vegan food can be so flavorful and beautiful on the plate, unlike a charred hamburger or dried out piece of poultry. I just don't get the people that are shocked by those that don't eat the burnt flesh of a once living animal....

I am sorry for your family's loss. I hope that even though her life was short, that she lived it to it's fullest.Thanksgiving is my next favorite holiday, after Halloween. I love to stuff and cook a turkey and only do it once a year. That being said, I have no problem with others making a vegan or non-traditional meal. I don't even mind being invited to eat at their homes on Thanksgiving day. I respect their eating style and will cook a turkey on another day. It really doesn't matter what day you celebrate!Enjoy your vegan holiday!

We’ve had Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey for several years now and we don’t miss it. We do not do tofurky because it’s not at all appealing to me. We just gather good friends and family around a table of good food (and hand crafted pottery) and give thanks. It’s so nice that you are doing this.

You all are so very very kind! Thank youMichele, considering all the turkey I have had over the years I would certainly be a hypocrite to judge anyone. I'm just supporting Wesley and her convictions regarding slaughterhouses, etc. she is working on a documentary about them so vegan is the way she rolls right now. I might miss that turkey leg for a minute though:-)Lori, we will have the same, good food, pottery made by friends, and lots of good conversation. Not to mention a view from the table of my chickens, haha!Suzan, it seems like every one of our family members has died around a holiday. This is a hard time of year for memories, not my favorite two months coming up.... Thanks for your sweet postXo

Your vegan Thanksgiving sounds wonderful. I saw an article about how they "handle" transporting and then slaughtering chickens - it was horrid. I eat very little meat anymore, so, yeah, I confess to liking that turkey dinner. So cheers to you and yours on Thanksgiving - one of our grand-daughters has become a vegetarian -she's 14. I'm proud of her.So sorry for your loss of a dear family member. It's a hard thing to deal with, especially at this season. Take care, sorry to be so long winded here.Mary

Mary, my husband is a bit sad about the turkey, but really I cook one a year so do we really like the turkey or are we doing it out of habit..... My daughter was born a vegetarian, never would touch meat and would hold her nose when she smelled it cooking. Total aversion to meat from the day she was conceived. I would get sick if I ate meat when I was pregnant with her.... Weird